Boss King and the Blade

Wednesday

Foreign Jay’s Mobile Workshop – The Hole

Jason and Jacinta

“We should have let them stay aboard longer, Jason” his partner told him in that nagging tone he found so irritating.

“She was recovered enough, Jacinta” he told her for the tenth time. “The girl has remarkable powers of recovery. I’m intrigued to know what it is in her blood that gives her such abilities”

Jacinta sighed mentally, no less audible to his linked mind. He walked their shared body to the rear of the mobile workshop, letting a dumb AI drive the massive vehicle. He had already programmed the new route for the workshop to follow so he let the machine do its job.

“She has two protectors with her so it will be fine” he continued. “I mean, I even stopped the workshop so they didn’t have to jump off”

“You are such a softy!” Jacinta said sarcastically. “Anyway, what’s the rush? We need to let the blood sample chill before we begin our analysis”

Jason had brought them to the bus section and picked up the robot head that Boss King had traded.

“This is a very advanced model” he explained to his partner. “I want to know why such a valuable piece of hardware was sent after that Melody girl”

Jacinta huffed at him in disappointment.

“You lied to Boss King about how much it was worth, didn’t you?” she chastised him. “That surgery should have been covered by just the head, no blood needed”

“But I wanted to look at her blood” whined Jason. “And we really do need a top-up on our own supply. I can only recycle the old batch so far”

Jason poked a long metallic finger into the severed neck joint, testing the internal circuits with micro-pulses of power. Then he paused, his artificial eyebrows rising over his smooth metal forehead in shock.

“Jacinta, we have a problem!” he snapped. He strode to the rear door of the bus, cycling it open with a transmitted command. The head was ejected out the door with a jerk of one arm, sending it crashing into the side of a passing factory building.

“What are you doing!” Jacinta cried out, her voice piercing his very brain with its sharpness. “I thought that was valuable?”

“It’s got a tracker inside” Jason said. “Somebody has been tracking those poor kids all the way to us!”

Jacinta’s thoughts stopped transmitting for a nano-second, then they surged back into his consciousness.

“Turn us around, Jason!” she demanded. “We are going back to make sure they are safe”

“I can’t, dearest beloved” he replied. “There are no suitable roads wide enough to turn us around. I’ll calculate a new route to circle back to the park, but it will take us at least five more minutes”

“Fine!” snapped his partner. “In that case get in touch with Zeke. Tell him to launch his fastest drones and get them to Boss King as quick as he can!”

“Of course, my love” Jason agreed. “Just don’t yell at me anymore. Your voice is really loud when you send it directly into my brain canister!”

“Just do it!” she shrilled.

=====

The People’s Park, The Hole

Boss King

Boss King and Mighty Princess were either side of Melody, supporting the taller girl with her arms draped over their shoulders. She was awake and fairly coherent he thought, but she did keep asking him when they would get some icecream.

“It’s not that kind of park” he told her. “The People’s Park used to be a big garden and grassed area for the workers to relax in” he explained. “That was about fifteen years ago, when this area still had factories and warehouses operating. Now it’s just a big pile of dead trees and dusty fields. Nobody sells icecream here anymore”

The partners assisted Melody to a shaded spot against a concrete wall, once part of the grand looking entrance to the park. Nowadays it was chipped, spray-painted and falling apart, another example of the decay that helped name the whole district as the Hole.

Once she was seated, Boss King drew out the water bottle he had saved. His mother would appreciate the clean water, but Melody needed it more urgently. He tilted her head back gently, pouring a little water into her mouth. She coughed once, then swallowed the liquid eagerly.

“More please” she insisted, putting her own hand around the bottle.

“Okay but drink it slowly” he told her and stepped back. While she finished the cool water, he glanced around them. The People’s Park was surrounded by old, ruined factories, abandoned shops and some burned out houses. Not many Hole dwellers lived around this area now, with no water or power connected and the Central Markets a long distance to walk.

He had hoped they would be dropped somewhere closer to the hub of the District, yet Foreign Jay had insisted he was heading further out into the Wastelands. This was the closest point he was willing to stop and as a small mercy he had actually stopped the big workshop. Last time he was aboard, Boss King had to jump from the back porch while the vehicle slowed down at a corner.

“I don’t think we are going to get a cab out here” Mighty Princess said accusingly, as if it was his fault that the park was an abandoned eyesore.

“There is the Amusement Arcade on the other side” he pointed out. “It’s early in the day, but there may be some players already. It’s the most likely spot we can find a ride”

“You are going to ask Players for help?” his partner gasped in alarm. “Those people are not normal, Boss King. Who knows what they’ll make us do in return for some help”

“It’ll be fine” he assured her blithely and tapped the machete at his hip. “There isn’t a gamer boy alive that can beat me”

He crouched in front of Melody and snapped his fingers to get her attention.

“What?” she said testily. “I’m not asleep you know. I was listening to everything you said”

“Good” he answered her with a grin. “We’ve got about half a kilometer to walk until we reach the other side of this park. I reckon we can order a cab from there to take us home. Do you think you can make it?”

“Yeah, I am feeling a lot better already” Melody replied. “It’s nice not to have that heavy magnet strapped to my neck anymore” She rubbed at the bandage Foreign Jay had placed over the incision until Mighty Princess smacked her hand away.

“It won’t get better if you keep poking at it, Thief Girl” she snapped. “You have cost us a lot of wasted time and Pandas already, so don’t make things worse”

Boss King laughed at the pair of them, then hauled Melody to her feet.

“Come on, we need to get moving. We are a long way from home and I don’t want to be stuck out here when the sun sets”

Melody gave him a look of mild terror.

“Why? What happens at sunset?” she gasped. “Do the monsters come out of their hiding places?”

“Huh?” Boss King said in confusion. “No. It’s just really hard to walk home in the dark”

=====

Melody-Six

“How come it is so dry here when it rains all the time in Pan City?” Melody asked. “This park should be overgrown but it’s a total dustbowl”

She kicked at the hard packed ground, sending up a small shower of dust. Mighty Princess scowled at her and dropped her hand onto the sheathed machete at her hip in warning.

“Err, sorry about that” she continued. “But even Spitfield gets a lot of rainfall. Why is the Hole so barren?”

“I dunno” the boy replied, his own boots kicking up dust as he walked. “I heard Dami say once it was because of the hills that surround the city. The wind patterns channel all the clouds over the southern end of Spitfield, so the north end where the Hole and Wasteland is misses most of the weather. That’s why they built the factories and warehouses here, so they wouldn’t get flooded all the time”

They were in the middle of the park Boss King told her, passing a copse of gnarled and grey trees when a glint of metal caught her eye. Her training kicked in without conscious thought and she bellowed to her companions.

“Sniper!” she roared, flinging herself into cover behind a low concrete bench. Boss King and Mighty Princess took longer to react, the sound of a gunshot reaching them less than a second after a bullet slammed into the boy’s right arm.

He tumbled down next to Melody, clutching at his arm with a pained expression on his face. Mighty Princess took cover behind a broken water fountain five meters away, huddling in its protection.

A series of short pops sounded, dirt and chips of concrete flying from the sheltering bench, then ceased as abruptly as it had started. Melody shuffled closer to Boss King and made him pull his hand away from his right shoulder, showing her where the bullet had landed.

His sleeve was marked with a black substance yet there was no blood. She lifted the sleeve gingerly and saw a dark mark on his shoulder, the beginnings of a truly epic bruise.

“Suppression rounds” she told him. “Luckily the range was long enough that it didn’t penetrate. Can you use your arm?”

Boss King grimaced in agony as he tried to rotate his arm.

“Nope” he admitted. “Doesn’t feel broken but it hurts like hell”

Another burst of gunfire sounded, this time from a different position. Melody cocked her head, the Blade training guiding her without hesitation.

“Two shooters” she declared confidently. “They’ll be moving alternately, trying to keep us pinned down while they get to a better firing position”

Melody looked to where Mighty Princess was huddled in the shadow of the broken water fountain. Her eyes were as big as saucers, meeting Melody’s own gaze over the intervening space.

“It’s me they are after” Melody called across to the other girl. “I’m going to make a run for it, so they’ll chase me down. That should give you two a chance to get away”

“No” Boss King told her flatly. “They may want you, but they shot me first. Getting you alone is exactly what they intended” He pulled his machete from the scabbard awkwardly, laying it into his left hand while staying as low as possible.

When Melody looked back at Mighty Princess, the girl had also drawn her blade. With the machete in hand, she gave Melody a fierce grin.

“Bet you wish you had a blade of your own, hey Thief Girl!” she said gamely. “I reckon both shooters are in those trees, so if we make a rush to the hedge maze over there we’ll be out of their firing line in a dozen steps”

Melody saw the withered hedges that once formed a maze in the middle of the park. There were gaps and openings all along the visible sides but she agreed it would offer the best cover. Once they were inside they could try and evade whoever was hunting her.

“Okay, but I’m going first” she told her companions. “They’ll target me so you should have the best chance of reaching the maze”

“Sure, I’m happy for you to be the target” agreed Mighty Princess. “Let’s go on the count of three. One…” she began then leapt into motion, yelling a wordless battle-cry as she surged into the open.

Bullets pinged and bounced around the girl as she ran, whooping loudly as she ducked and dived.

“Come on, I’m not doing this for fun!” she yelled over her shoulder and squawked loudly as a rubber Suppression round slammed into her right thigh. “Crap almighty that hurts!” she added yet kept staggering onwards.

Melody had pulled Boss King to his feet and the pair of them raced after Mighty Princess. More gunfire echoed around them from the trees, none of the bullets coming close. Princess was nearly at the edge of the maze when Melody realised the trap they had deliberately run themselves into.

A third person, this one a lean, dark skinned young woman, stepped out from the shadows of the hedge, her voice rising in a violent scream. Like a solid wall of air it formed the swirling dust into a barrier that slammed into Mighty Princess, knocking the girl down flat.

“She’s an Aeromancer!” Boss King spat and rushed forwards, arcing his machete in a wide-armed swing at the new opponent.

The woman turned to the boy, her voice focussing like a gun barrel directly at his charging body. A dust filled cannonball of solidified air rammed into Boss King, sending his blade flying and hurling him onto his back.

She grinned triumphantly until Melody caught the spinning machete and leapt his fallen shape, charging right into the stunned woman.

“Banzai Butterfly!” she screamed and brought the razor sharp edge down in a powerful strike.

=====

Bloody Sunset

The plan had gone almost perfectly, the target and her two companions walking right into the trap that Hammer set up. It would have been absolutely perfect if not for the fact Sunset realised she was about to die.

“Banzai Butterfly!” screamed the wild-eyed girl, leaping at Sunset with a deadly looking machete. She had fought a little against opponents with blades and did the only move she knew. Her left forearm was raised in a desperate block, letting the attack crash against the Ceramite vambrace she wore there.

Sunset was driven backwards by the power of the blow, her arm numbed by the impact as the machete screeched against the armour. She threw herself to the side as the girl spun, the viciously sharp blade taking a slice out of her shirt as she scrambled clear.

Her only chance was to get some space between her and the girl. That way she could use her Aeromancy to knock her out, but the blade-wielding maniac was coming at her without pause. Sunset raced away down one hedge-sided passage of the old maze, ducking and weaving as the shouting girl pursued her.

“Sunset! What’s happening in there?” came Hammer’s voice over her earpiece. “We’ve lost sight of you in the maze. Is the girl subdued?”

Sunset took a sharp turn, hearing the girl close on her heels. The passage was a long one, with a couple of exits up ahead. She pushed herself into top speed, hoping the crazy girl was not as fast.

“Kinda busy right now, Hammer!” she yelled into her throat mike, her breathing already started to become ragged. Sunset barely had the breath to keep sprinting, let alone focus her Aeromancy on the girl.

She turned suddenly, darting down a side passage as her pursuer overshot the corner. Sunset thought she had saved herself when her eyes saw the blocked end of the route she picked. It was a dead end, straggling hedges and weeds choking the way ahead.

“Crap on a stick!” she snarled and turned her head, seeing the machete wielding girl run into the only exit.

“Who are you?” demanded the fierce girl, slowing as she closed the distance between them. “Who sent you after me?”

Sunset had slowed too, the passage ending about five meters ahead of her.

“Sorry, I can’t tell you who the Mister is” she replied, her eyes frantically roaming for a way out as she tried to catch her breath. “First rule of being a Freelancer, never reveal who your employer is”

Both girls had stopped moving, facing each other over a gap of about two arm lengths. The other girl held the machete raised in a guard stance, ready to strike or defend instantly. Sunset knew little about sword combat but she recognised her opponent was highly trained.

“Don’t try and use your Ability on me” the girl warned her as soon as Sunset thought about it. “You’ve got your breath back, but at this range I’ll cut you in half before you finish screaming”

Sunset nodded mutely, seeing the determination in the girl’s eyes. She couldn’t beat her in a fight, not this close, and she couldn’t reveal the information the girl wanted. To be honest, she had no idea who their employer was. Hammer dealt with the “Mister” and she doubted even he knew the employer’s real name.

Low rent Freelancers like the Violent Surrender gang were rarely given any more data than what they needed to complete their mission. It was one of the many bad aspects to the career she had chosen. Sunset had been casting her eyes about as they faced each other, until finally she spotted what she needed.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter now as my partners have got you cornered” Sunset grinned at her widely. “Hi Hammer, I got her right where you wanted her”. Sunset looked over the girl’s shoulder as she said this, nodding gleefully.

Poor dumb girl was too young to know a sucker play when she was given one. She turned wildly, swinging her machete to ward against Hammer at her back. Except there was nobody there and Sunset took her chance. She kicked off from the dusty ground and dove sideways through the hedge lining one side, aiming at the thinnest section she had spotted.

Dry, sharp branches tore and snagged at her clothes and hair until her desperate lunge pushed her into the open. She tumbled on the ground, seeing she was outside the maze and not far from where she had originally entered. A shout of anger came from behind as the girl discovered her simple trick, then that razor edged machete cut a bigger hole in the hedge.

“Come back here!” snapped the girl angrily and jumped through the gap, already running after Sunset as she bolted away from the maze.

“Come and get me!” Sunset taunted her, angling herself in a new direction. The girl followed, closing in once more with her superior athleticism. It was going to be tight, but Sunset reckoned she was going to make it. The pair of them raced around one corner of the maze hedge and then Sunset slowed to a stop.

The girl came charging after her and skidded to a stop as well. Sunset gave her a victory grin and gestured to the machete.

“Drop it please” she said sweetly.

The girl looked at the hulking forms of Hammer and Irongrim standing beside Sunset, both aiming their guns at her with hard expressions. She dropped the blade into the dirt and raised her arms in surrender, giving an evil glare at her captors.

“This wasn’t the plan” said her boss. “But you made it work in the end. Well done, Sunset”

“Thanks, Hammer!” Sunset answered. She was feeling mighty pleased with herself, right up until the big red and silver drone thundered across the sky, disgorging a cloud of black mini-drones in its wake.